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LPGA’s International Crown Taiwan’s Congresspersons help rally support for Team Taiwan

By Taiwan News
Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

2014/06/27 00:00

Swinging Skirts Golf Foundation, a Taiwanese non-profit organization made up of both men and women amateur golfers with a shared goal of growing the game of golf via sponsoring top women's golf tournaments and top female players, announced it will participate as an Ambassador Partner for the inaugural International Crown, to be played July 24-27, 2014 at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, MD, USA Swinging Skirts joins recently announced Hana Financial Group, PANDORA Jewelry, Rolex and Underwriters Laboratories as an Ambassador Partner, while holding the distinction of being the only non-for-profit sponsor for this unique golf event.

With the help of avid golfer/legislator Johnny Chiang, more than 20 members of Taiwan’s Parliament showed their support for Taiwan’s golf as well as the International Crown tournament at a square just outside the nation’s Parliament-the Legislative Yuan.

“Golf will not only be on the menu for 2016 Rio Olympics, it will also be a handful of events in which Taiwan may have a shot at medaling. Therefore we need to pool our national resources and support. Swinging Skirts Golf Foundation has long been devoted to promoting women’s golf in Taiwan, and its passion and commitment is truly commendable,” said Chiang.

“The inaugural International Crown will round up the best four players from the world’s top 8 golfing countries. Therefore, it is nothing short of summit rivalries of golf. I would like to call on my fellow countrymen to support the event and give more Taiwanese lady golfers a chance to shine, “added Chiang, a member of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs & National Defense Subcommittee, who also helped rally overseas support for the inaugural Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic around Bay Area in April.

The Swinging Skirts members are avid golfers who wear colorful kilts when playing the game to pay homage to one of golf’s oldest traditions, born hundreds of years ago at the Home of Golf: St. Andrews, Scotland. Swinging Skirts also serves as the title sponsor of the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic in San Francisco, CA. The inaugural event was contested this past April 24-27 and won by Lydia Ko.

“Unlike Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup, International Crown is competed by one country versus another. Its unique format puts it in usually high ground as participants are not just competing for their own prize money or world ranking points, but also for national honor and pride,” said Swinging Skirts Golf Foundation chairman Johnson Wang.

Wang remarked “In light of the special significance associated with the International Crown, Swinging Skirts Golf Foundation decided to sponsor the event. We hope Swinging Skirts will remind everyone of Taiwan and Taiwan’s golfers. Meanwhile, Swinging Skirts Golf Foundation hopes to provide the best support for Taiwan’s golfers, becoming their eternal volunteers. On a personal note, I would really like the sight of presenting the trophy to Team Taiwan myself when all is said and done,”

The International Crown is the first-of-its-kind biennial, team match play competition featuring the best female golfers from the top eight countries across the globe, based on the combined Rolex World Ranking of the top four players from each country. The eight countries that will compete in the inaugural International Crown are, in order of qualification: United States, Republic of Korea, Thailand, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Australia and Taiwan.

Taiwan will be represented by Yani Tseng, who held the world’s top spot for 110 weeks, and Teresa Lu, who won the 2013 Mizuno Classic as a non-LPGA member. 13-year LPGA veteran and four-time tournament champion Candie Kung and 21-year-old Hsuan-Yu Yao will round out the four-member roster.